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Comment by darth_avocado | Hacker News Reader

It's insane. I had my car broken into, fortunately I don't keep anything in it, so nothing was stolen, but when I called the cops, the basic response was initially along the lines of "Dude why are you even calling?" and when I persisted on filing an incident report, they begrudgingly filed it, but kept dropping hints that this is never even going to get looked at. I mean we have like 5 nest cams around the neighborhood, and plenty of shops also have cameras around, but I doubt they'll even try.

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They won’t try because an arrest is pointless if the DA refuses to prosecute.

Elect a real DA who respects the law and law-abiding citizens, and the police will be able to do their jobs. Until then it’s a lost cause.

Hungry people will try to eat whatever they can. Tired people will try to sleep wherever they can. Unhappy people will try to feel better however they can.

Criminalizing these activities is incredibly costly and doesn't truly solve anything.

People are quick to question the morality of desperate unhappy poor people when they break the law when they don't have enough resources or options, and yet we rarely consider the immorality of those who hoard incredible wealth they don't need, when there are desperate unhappy poor people in need.

Shouldn't those with great power have the greater responsibility?

There are many options to get fed in America, even if you don't have money. Here [1] is a list of food banks in SF.

[1] https://food-banks.org/assistance/san_francisco_ca.html

And yet people still go hungry. It's a lot easier to feed yourself if you have money. Also not everybody has 5 and a half hours to wait in line.

https://www.sfchronicle.com/local-politics/article/S-F-hunge...

Are you saying that homeless and vagrants are too busy and it's much less time consuming to simply steal? Is that really a moral argument? You're that concerned about the productive time of homeless people?

See my answer above. As for my argument above that about comparative morality, it's more complex and nuanced, but it boils down to the idea of agency and praxis, and the responsibility of those who have everything they need.

Also a large number of people receiving food aid are neither homeless nor vagrants, but the working poor.

In good faith, is the proposal here that long lines at food banks morally justify stealing?

No, I was responding to the idea that the existence at food banks means nobody needs to go hungry.

But I do think folks here have a lot of illusions about the nature of poverty and who is poor that they've gathered mostly by vague cultural osmosis and conservative propagated myths, not by working with or for poor folks, talking to those who do, academic studies (either doing, or reading), or even watching documentaries.

And what of the emotional and psychological effects victims of crime experience, doesn’t matter because they hold a job right?

Addicts will rob whatever they can.

This is my problem. I have video footage of a man walking out of his tent (that he is illegally camping in, btw) , walking across the street, coming to my car and removing the catalytic converter and then walking back to his tent. The police arrested him but had to release him when the Seattle city attorneys office refused to prosecute.

It won't do anything but make you feel better, but you could try bringing a civil case.

It will do something. It will cost money and waste time.

I think the expression in this case is "getting water from a stone" - what's the point in suing somebody who doesn't have anything to give you anyway?

Why live in a place like that? There's a flight of tech talent from these cities, and it's hard not to see why.

This is the correct answer. Why on earth would you live there? I spend 9 months/year in Sunnyvale, CA, about 40 miles south of SF. I refuse to go up there.

It takes way more investment to do what you're asking. Collecting the video, getting a warrant, tracking down the person, sending a team to arrest them, etc. How much does that all cost the city? Average cop makes over $50/hr in San Francisco. So it probably costs more than the loss typically?[1]

The problem in SF is that we've disbanded the team that tries to catch people in the act[2]. IIUC, it's both because there weren't enough resources and the DA won't prosecute anyway, so what's the point.

[1] - Maybe not in the case of a-rod: https://www.sfchronicle.com/crime/article/Half-million-in-lo...

[2] - https://www.sfweekly.com/news/authorities-hustle-to-curb-s-f...

Again, it's a service paid for by citizens taxes. It shouldn't matter they don't make enough money covering the "protect and serve" part of a non violent crime, that's the damn job. Raise the taxes, don't skip out on the duty you're paid to do.

And a service that was defunded across the country due to political pressure, I’m sure this doesn’t help either.

From the article,

>“We see a lot of repeat offenders.”

Sure if each criminal act was done by a different person, it probably would be expensive. In most cities, very small set of people are responsible for 99% of the crime. So if you book a single person, it will prevent multiple such incidents and bring down the cost and will be worthwhile. It's not a cost problem, it is a politics problem.

Besides doesn't matter how small the crime is. If tomorrow, if what the DA and the cops are are doing get written into law, ie, anything that is of less value than what costs us to prosecute is legal, the society will descend into chaos very quickly. Like why the hell am I paying for groceries?

Don't vote for Chesa, and recall him.

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